Printers are common peripheral devices attached to computers. A printer allows a computer user to make a hard copy of documents that are created in a variety of applications and programs on a computer. To function properly, a channel of communication is established (e.g., via a network connection) between the printer and the computer to enable the printer to receive commands and information from the host computer.
Once a connection is established between a workstation and the printer, printing software is implemented at a print server to manage a print job from order entry and management through the complete printing process. The printing software may simultaneously manage in excess of thousands of print jobs that have been spooled (or queued) for production. One type of printer management is the accounting and management of printer resource consumption.
In order for the operator of inkjet printing system to be adequately compensated for producing print jobs it is necessary to monitor resource consumption associated with a particular print job. Currently, print engines within printing systems have the ability to report constant counter-based values on a print job basis to the printing software. These values include information such as job start/stop time, number of errors encountered, stops/starts, ink usage, and page count. Each of these items is an additive value, where a counter is kept and reported.
However some systems within a printing system are variable in that they may be on or off for different durations during the printing of a specific job. For instance, an ink dryer is the largest consumer of energy within inkjet printing systems. The operation of an ink dryer may vary widely between different print jobs, making it difficult to track dryer energy consumption attributable to individual print jobs. Thus, achieving an accurate reporting for energy consumption attributable variable systems is difficult.
Accordingly, a mechanism for tracking and reporting variable energy usage associated with producing a print job is desired.